FOUR development meets will be staged across the island today as the local high school track and field season moves into high gear.

The Morant Bay Relays at Morant Bay High School in St Thomas, the Noranda Bauxite NCAAA Development Athletics Meet, the Central Hurdles and Relays at GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport in Spanish Town, and the Big Shot Invitational at St Hugh’s High take the spotlight.

The 1,500m and the triple jump for girls will be the two new events at the Noranda Bauxite NCAAA Development Athletics Meet at the Noranda Sports Club in Discovery Bay, St Ann, and the Central Hurdles and Relays at GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport in Spanish Town.

At the NCAAA meet, the 1,500m for boys classes one and two and girls open will spotlight the action which begins at 9:00 am.

Special prizes will go to coaches based on the performance of their athletes. This includes prizes for two high school boys and girls coaches, top local coach from St Ann or St Mary.

The coaches of the winning boys and girls mile relay teams will also be awarded cash incentives courtesy of the Mayor of St Ann’s Bay.

The meet, which started 13 years ago, sought to cater to athletes in this region to develop their athletic abilities in track and field athletics.

Meet director Duane Daley told the Jamaica Observer: “We expect over 40 high schools to participate this year, along with some tertiary institutions, clubs, preparatory and primary schools. The 1,500 metres was added because of the demand from coaches for the event.”

Olympian Danny McFarlane and George Forbes (ISSA competitions director) have been honoured before.

The meet will start with the 3,000 metres women, 5,000 metres men, 200m, 800m, 50m, 100m, 400m, 1,500m, 400-metre relay and 1,600-metre relay. There will also be shot put and discus in the field events.

Schools such as Holmwood, Tacius Golding, Cornwall College and Campion are scheduled to participate, along with a number of preparatory and primary schools in the parish.

Action at the six-year-old Central Hurdles and Relays gets underway at 8:30 am with the long jump and 4x800m Open for male and female.

Over 50 high school teams and 10 clubs, as well as several unattached athletes, will be in action.

The hosts, GC Foster College, will be this year’s honouree. Chairman of the organising committee, Jerry Holness, said that the college had been selected in recognition of the tremendous work that it had done in preparing the country’s coaches, and the contribution that the coaches had made to nation-building by virtue of the results of their charges at the national, regional, international, and at the Olympic level.

Other events on the track today include the 400m hurdles for Under-17, Under-20, and open, 200m clubs and institutions, 70m hurdles, 80m hurdles, and 100m hurdles, 400m for classes one, two, and three, as well as clubs and institutions, and the 4x100m, classes one through four and the 4x400m for clubs and institutions and open.

The organisers of the Central Hurdles and Relays have collaborated with coaches of the Big Shot Invitational, who wish their charges to compete at both meets.

Athletes will be picked up at GC Foster and taken to Kingston to compete and returned to Spanish Town at the end of the day.